24. Although these people and their children were born and lived their entire lives in Macedonia, due to the factors set out above, many of them lost the ability to prove their right to citizenship and thus became stateless, or at risk of statelessness. 25. Macedonia does however have in place, a safeguard against childhood statelessness. According to the Law on Citizenship of 2004, Macedonian citizenship is acquired by a child who was found or born in the territory of Macedonia whose parents are unknown or have an unknown citizenship or are stateless. This safeguard however, is not comprehensive – it does not protect children who have a parent who cannot pass their nationality onto their children – for example, due to gender discriminatory nationality law in the parent’s country. Furthermore, this provision has not been implemented consistently in practice, with a particular impact on the children of Roma parents, who could not establish their claim to Macedonian citizenship due to the reasons set out above. 26. As a result, these people and their descendants were no longer seen and addressed through the lens of citizenship (as was their right), but through that of foreigners. Hence, Roma, whose right to a nationality had been denied, were left with no option but to attempt to regulate their stay in the Republic of Macedonia under the Law on Foreigners, either on the basis of marriage, if they are married to a Macedonian citizen, or as stateless persons on humanitarian grounds. 27. In this context – having been denied the right to Macedonian citizenship – the new law on Foreigners (of5 June 2018) is particularly relevant to this group. This law envisages the possibility for persons who had Yugoslavian (Federal) citizenship on 8 September 1991 and who after 8 September 1991, continued to live in Macedonia, to obtain permanent residence in Macedonia if they register their stay within three years of the adoption of the law. According to the law, children over five years old also benefit. This development exempts those who lost their citizenship due to the discriminatory situation arising out of state succession (as described above), from annual costs and obligations to renew the temporary residence permit. This is a positive development, as in some cases, the costs and other barriers associated with renewing temporary residence permits, caused a break in the legal stay of affected persons, thus preventing them from ultimately acquiring Macedonian citizenship through naturalisation. 28. However, the same law in Article 132(3) lacks precision and requires that persons who apply for residence status should support their application with an opinion provided by a competent institution. In practice, this provision can create confusion among the persons applying for residence on the one hand and gives wide discretion to the authorities on the other. In the context of negative stereotypes and prejudicial attitudes towards the Roma, there is a concern that such discretion will be abused, creating further barriers to the regularisation of their status. Barriers to birth registration and unregulated civil status 29. Barriers to birth registration and unregulated civil status are serious and complex problems in Macedonia, which heighten the risk of statelessness, especially for members of the Roma community. The inability to meet documentary evidence requirements, the discriminatory attitudes of registry officials, poverty, lack of awareness and marginalisation are all factors which impact on 7